CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Every doctor has gone through it -- the stamina-testing, information-overload experience that is medical school.

It's a trial by fire for students who up until then have had an easy time with academics but who quickly face physical and intellectual demands so intense they have been known to trigger depression, or worse, in some students.

A new book by Hudson author Jacqueline Marino gives an insider's look at what getting through medical school really takes in this case, by creating a portrait of students at Case Western Reserve University Medical School.

"You have to be a brainiac, and hard-working, and even then it's very difficult," says Marino, 39, an assistant professor of journalismat Kent State University. "It's a huge commitment and sacrifice, and I wanted to see what that was like."

So she followed three students at Case's medical school over their four-year sojourn. Marino takes readers through nights of students cramming for daunting bio-chemistry exams, days when they first faced the cadavers they'd dissect, and hours caring for patients -- checking pulses, performing CPR on a dying woman, assisting in a birth.

"White Coats: Three Journeys Through An American Medical School," started as a single magazine story by Marino, then a Cleveland magazine staffer, in 2005. Based on reader reaction to that story, and her own interest in the student's challenges, Marino decided to follow the three students beyond the day they received the short white coats bestowed upon medical students, through theiryears of school and training.

The students she chose -- based on their candor and willingness to open their lives to her examination -- were wildly different in background, and in their views toward medical school:

Mike Norton, a Mormon from Utah whose wife was pregnant during his first year of med school and whose father would face a dire diagnosis;

Marleny Franco, born in the Dominican Republic and motivated to be a doctor by the health care disparities she'd seen that were based on language, race and culture;

Millie Gentry, a statuesque half-Taiwanese young woman, who entered medical school with determination to simultaneously have a balanced life that involved part-time modeling, shopping, cooking and friends outside school.

See the original post here:
Hudson author Jacqueline Marino details CWRU medical school life in 'White Coats'

CHICAGO, June 18, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Malini Daniel, a medical student at the Stanford School of Medicine in Palo Alto, Calif., today became a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Medical Association (AMA), the nation's largest physician organization. Ms. Daniel was installed as a trustee at the AMA's Annual Meeting in Chicago.

"I am very honored to represent future physicians in this position on the AMA Board of Trustees," said Ms. Daniel. "As a medical student, I'm excited to share my experiences in the rapidly changing field of medicine and I look forward to working with the board to help shape the future of health care."

Ms. Daniel will complete her medical degree with a concentration in health services research and policy in 2013. She was elected by her fellow medical students to serve a one-year term on the AMA Board of Trustees.

Ms. Daniel is dedicated to supporting global health initiatives. She has done extensive policy work and research for various programs including the World Health Organization, Joint United Nations Program for HIV/AIDS and the National AIDS Control Organization for the government of India.

Malini Daniel graduated with honors in 2006 from Harvard University with a Bachelors of Arts degree in biology and international policy, later receiving a Masters of Science degree in global health science from Oxford University. She currently resides in Palo Alto.

Media Contact: Liz Magsig AMA Media Relations Office: (202) 789-7419 Newsroom: (312) 239-4991 elizabeth.magsig@ama-assn.org

About the American Medical Association (AMA) The American Medical Association helps doctors help patients by uniting physicians nationwide to work on the most important professional, public health and health policy issues. The nation's largest physician organization plays a leading role in shaping the future of medicine. For more information on the AMA, please visit http://www.ama-assn.org.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://www.cisionwire.com http://www.cisionwire.com/american-medical-association/r/medical-student-malini-daniel-elected-to-ama-board-of-trustees,c9274034

Read the original post:
Medical Student Malini Daniel Elected to AMA Board of Trustees

Add yet another factor to the emotional politics behind the drive to strip Rutgers University of control over its Camden campus, politics described by one state senator as "the beginning of a new civil war": The personal. The rejection that the powerful Norcross family of South Jersey felt at the refusal of the universitys president to take over the new Cooper Medical School in Camden.

"Rutgers could have had the medical school some years ago," said State Sen. Donald Norcross (D-Camden), the prime sponsor of the bill that aims to "reorganize" higher education in the state but also results in the first real threat to the autonomy and structural integrity of Rutgers University in its 56-year history as it is called under the law, "The State University of New Jersey."

"For whatever reason, they decided not to," said Norcross, whose brother George is political boss of South Jersey.

Through the efforts of Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and the demands of Gov. Chris Christie, the bill is racing through the Legislature without so much as a pause to think of its price tag. The other day, the five senators on the Senate Higher Education committee voted for the bill, although the three Democrats and two Republicans admitted like Donald Norcross did they had no clue how much money it would cost. Critics have put the price at a quarter-billion dollars, maybe more.

Donald Norcross blamed the Rutgers "bureaucracy" for rejecting Cooper Medical School, but that bureaucracy is headed at least until the end of the month by outgoing president Richard McCormick.

McCormick, despite the reluctance of his governing boards and the opposition of faculty and many students, has pushed hard for the part of the bill that permits the universitys takeover of the Central Jersey operations of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) even at the price of losing the Camden campus. Rutgers briefly had a medical school until 1971 when the state took it over as part of UMDNJ; regaining it would be McCormicks legacy.

The bill, as written by Sweeney, adds another sweetener the Rutgers takeover of UMDNJs Newark assets, giving Rutgers two medical school campuses. That part of the bill led to the comment about "civil war" when state Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex) implored the committee to hold the bill.

But the unanswered question hanging over the legislative hearings and the entire proposal is this: If it is good state policy for New Jerseys state university to take over medical education in Newark and Piscataway, why not in Camden?

Donald Norcross, in an interview after he testified before the Senate Higher Education Committee, answered: "Why would we want to empower Rutgers to take over an asset of Rowan University?"

Rowan University, a former state teachers college whose biggest major is still teacher education, had agreed to take in the medical school after McCormick declined. "Rowan has done a good job," Norcross said.

See the original post here:
Braun: Rutgers-Camden medical school situation is personal, as well as political

By MARY SHEDDEN | The Tampa Tribune Published: June 18, 2012 Updated: June 18, 2012 - 7:00 AM

A University of South Florida medical school program highlighting leadership, empathy and business wherewithal will nearly triple its number of students this fall.

In August, 48 first-year Morsani College of Medicine students will join the 18 original participants in SELECT. The program targets students with strong self-awareness and self-management skills, as well as those showing an enhanced empathy toward patients and community.

A warning for new students: The five extra hours a week of discussions and self-reflection about communication, healthcare systems and management are intense, said first-year SELECT veteran Chris Pothering.

But these opportunities to meet with healthcare executives and other leaders make the commitment worth it, he said.

"It's almost like you forget you're in medical school when you sit down and have these interactions with people who are professionals in communication or in leadership," said Pothering, 28.

SELECT, or Scholarly Excellence, Leadership Experiences and Collaborative Training, has been brewing within the college for years. Positive feedback from the inaugural group of students and faculty mentors led to its sudden growth, said Alicia Monroe, the college's vice dean for educational affairs.

Eventually, the college will admit 56 SELECT students a year, in addition to a core medical class of 120 students. It highlights the importance in training new doctors to care for patients beyond the physical symptoms, Monroe said.

"We always have to be mindful of tasks, but also how it affects others," she said.

SELECT students often don't fall within the traditional medical admissions profile. Some of the students have other professional experience. Others have spent time in the military.

More here:
Medical students examine business side

Public release date: 15-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Matt DePoint mdepoint@umn.edu 612-625-4110 University of Minnesota Academic Health Center

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (06/15/2012) University of Minnesota Medical School researchers have collaborated with the School of Public Health and discovered an enzyme that, when found at high levels and alongside low levels of HDL (good cholesterol), can dramatically reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

The enzyme glutathione peroxidase, or GPx3 is a natural antioxidant that helps protect organisms from oxidant injury and helps the body naturally repair itself. Researchers have found that patients with high levels of good cholesterol, the GPx3 enzyme does not make a significant difference. However, those patients with low levels of good cholesterol, the GPx3 enzyme could potentially be a big benefit. The enzyme's link to cardiovascular disease may also help determine cardiovascular risk in patients with low levels of good cholesterol and low levels of the protective GPx3.

The new research, published today by PLoS One, supports the view that natural antioxidants may offer the human body profound benefits.

"In our study, we found that people with high levels of the GPx3 enzyme and low levels of good cholesterol were six times less likely to develop cardiovascular disease than people with low levels of both," said lead author Jordan L. Holtzman, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and medicine within the University of Minnesota Medical School. "This GPx3 enzyme gives us a good reason to believe that natural antioxidants like GPx3 are good for heart health."

The combination of low HDL and low GPx3 affects an estimated 50 million people one in four adults in the U.S. This condition can lead to fatal heart attacks and strokes. Researchers continue to look for new ways to better predict who is at risk for these diseases and how patients can limit the impact of the disease once it's diagnosed.

"It's important to point out that people should not rush out to their doctors and demand testing for the GPx3 enzyme," said Holtzman. "But in time, we hope that measuring this enzyme will be a common blood test when determining whether a patient is at risk for cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes."

To arrive at his results, Holtzman and his colleagues studied the three major risk factors for cardiovascular disease: hypertension, smoking and high cholesterol. Data suggests that those with low levels of HDL and GPx3 were six times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease, including heart attack or stroke, than those with low levels of HDL and high levels of GPx3.

The study examined 130 stored samples from the Minnesota Heart Survey from participants who died of cardiovascular disease after 5-12 years of follow-up care. The ages of patients studied ranged from 26-85 years old. Their data was compared to 240 control samples.

Follow this link:
U of M researchers find natural antioxidant can protect against cardiovascular disease

UC Davis faculty leaders have declared that medical school administrators there violated the academic freedom of a professor who published a 2010 opinion article criticizing a campus event promoting prostate cancer screening.

In a unanimous vote, the faculty Senate's Representative Assembly admonished administrators for threatening cuts in title and funding and possible legal action against medical professor Michael Wilkes after his piece appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle. The faculty governing panel last week also called for medical school leaders to apologize and "take concrete steps to prevent future violations of rights of academic freedom."

Although disciplinary action was not carried out against Wilkes, raising that possibility violated his rights, according to microbiologist Linda Bisson, who chairs the UC Davis faculty Senate. "It's not a gray area or even a little cloudy. This is a textbook example of what is protected in academic freedom," Bisson said Wednesday.

The next step is up to campus Executive Vice Chancellor Ralph Hexter, who in consultation with Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi is expected to decide by fall whether to impose any discipline on the medical school executives, campus officials said.

In their co-written newspaper article, Wilkes and USC emergency medicine professor Jerome Hoffman wrote about research showing that PSA blood tests for prostate cancer may lead to unnecessary treatments that cause negative side effects. They suggested that a UC Davis public seminar that promoted such screening "just might have to do with money" and that doctors involved could have a conflict of interest.

In an email soon after, the medical school's executive associate dean stated that Wilkes might be removed from his post as director of global health and from some training responsibilities, according to a recent report by a faculty committee. Then, a campus health center attorney wrote to Wilkes about what he alleged were factual mistakes in the article that hurt UC's reputation and were "potentially actionable under the law of defamation."

In an telephone interview Wednesday, Wilkes said he regretted some of the "edgier" language in his article and wished the matter could have been resolved long before it came to a formal investigation.

"All I want is an apology and a road map to show that, if this happens against other faculty, there are ways to deal with this that do not involve intimidation. And that they rely on the foundation of academics, which is debate and discussion," said Wilkes, a prostate cancer expert who moved from UCLA to UC Davis eight years ago.

Administrators contended that discussions about Wilkes' job titles were not related to the article and resulted from previous performance reviews. The campus attorney said the letter about defamation was not meant as a threat but just "a statement of fact," the faculty report said.

Two medical school leaders involved said in an email Wednesday that it would be inappropriate to comment in detail on the issue, which was previously reported by the online publication Inside Higher Ed.

Follow this link:
Professor's academic freedom was violated, UC Davis faculty leaders say

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) New Jersey state officials are working on rearranging the state's higher education system to give Rutgers control of a medical university in hopes that would help move the university, as former Gov. Tom Kean put it, from good to great.

Education experts see it as a step likely to help but hardly the only one the state's 246-year-old flagship university needs to take to become one of the nation's elite public universities.

They say the school needs to prioritize which departments will be targeted to try to attract top faculty; find ways to cut bureaucracy for undergraduates; and find ways to sell itself to the state's top high school students as a place they'll want to spend the next four years.

"Rutgers is a traditional, proud school that has the opportunity to become great," said Greg Brown, the chairman of Motorola Solutions and a Rutgers trustee.

Rutgers is known as a strong university. Two surveys that college officials follow by The Times of London and the Center for World-Class Universities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University both place it in the top 100 universities in the world. And several of Rutgers' graduate programs particularly in the humanities and social sciences were ranked highly by the latest U.S. News and World Report survey.

But several U.S. public universities rank ahead of Rutgers on those surveys. A handful, including the Universities of California-Berkeley, Washington and Michigan, consistently rank among the top 20 in the world.

It's that list that Rutgers officials seek to join.

"What you're going to see is a limited number of places around the country and around the globe will have critical mass to accomplish cutting-edge research," said Richard Edwards, the Rutgers vice president who is slated to be the university's interim president in July and August. "The whole point is not to be rated highly but what happens because of that research," Edwards said.

___

Those highest-ranked public universities in the U.S. all have medical schools.

The rest is here:
Medical school not only way Rutgers could improve

Jason FArmer / Times-Shamrock The Commonwealth Medical College and the University of Scranton are extending an agreement to talk affiliation until May 18.

The Commonwealth Medical College moved a step closer to full accreditation on Thursday when it announced the national medical school accrediting body has lifted the college's probationary status and granted it provisional accreditation.

The advance comes a year after the Liaison Committee for Medical Education placed the school on probation largely because of concerns about its financial stability.

With the new status - a rung higher than the school's preliminary accreditation before the probation period - the accrediting body also determined that the college has the resources to expand its class size from 65 to 100 medical degree students beginning in 2013.

"This is an external statement by an accrediting body that this school is solid," Lois Margaret Nora, M.D., the college's interim president and dean, said. "For anyone who has any questions about permanence, this is just a major statement."

The LCME's deliberations are private, Dr. Nora said, but the committee performed a comprehensive review of databases, student surveys and the college's self-study and spent three days on site evaluating the school.

The committee has asked for a status report in February on two areas that require continued monitoring: the college's permanent leadership and its long-term financial stability. But Dr. Nora noted that it did not ask for follow-up reports on the strength of the teaching and student programs at the core of the school's mission.

"This is a very solid school from the perspective of its core business: growing physicians and other health professionals," she said.

Dr. Nora, who will be replaced by Robert Wright, M.D., as interim president and dean when she leaves the college at the end of June, said the school has largely addressed the leadership question by permanently filling several key chairman and dean positions that were previously vacant or temporary.

The college has identified "excellent" candidates in its national search for a permanent CEO and dean and will hold a second round of interviews before the end of the month, Dr. Wright said.

Follow this link:
Commonwealth Medical college taken off probation

James Madison University hosted a three day medical school for local high school students interested in the field. The event was called the "Careers in Health and Medicine Program."

It gave the students a sample of what health professionals do. Many speakers from the health care industry spoke and the high school students took advantage of opportunities for hands on experience. They learned how to dress wounds and take blood pressure readings.

Organizer, Erika Kancler described how the program's first year went.

So far, so good, said Kancler. We've had some technical difficulties. I'm learning how to use the simulated patient myself but I think it's going very well. So far, the response has been extremely favorable.

Those in charge of the program hoped that the three day event would help the students realize what job opportunities are available to them.

Copyright 2012 WHSV / Gray Television Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

See the original post:
JMU Hosts Medical School Program for High School Students

June 11, 2012 Updated Jun 11, 2012 at 7:30 PM CDT

PEORIA,Ill --OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria is teaming up with the University of Illinois College of Medicine to enhance training and performance of health care professionals.

The partnership will bring a new Jump Trading Simulation and Education Center to the hospital campus.

On Monday morning, construction crews put the last beam in place on the 51million dollar facility. Officials are planning on training up to 30,000 healthcare professionals including doctors in the first year after its opening next April.

"This is a much safer environment than doing training out in the field. We can carefully control the circumstances and we can allow for training in an environment where no patient can ever receive an injury," said OSF Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Vozenilek

The six story building will include an education center, a virtual intensive care unit, and an innovation laboratory plus other training features.

Original post:
OSF teams up with medical school on training project

WORCESTER, MA--(Marketwire -06/13/12)- The University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) and UMass Memorial Medical Center have enrolled their first participant in a clinical study designed to evaluate a new tissue expansion method for breast reconstruction after a mastectomy. The randomized, controlled clinical study is designed to directly compare the outcomes of the traditional saline tissue expansion method to an investigational, remote-controlled, needle-free, tissue expansion system known as The AeroForm Patient Controlled Tissue Expander System.

Tissue expansion is a process required to stretch the skin and tissue at the site of a mastectomy so that a standard saline or silicone breast implant can be placed.

"Traditionally, women undergoing breast reconstruction have had to endure a long process of inconvenient and often painful inflations using conventional saline expanders to create a pocket for a standard implant following a mastectomy," said John Castle, MD, clinical assistant professor of surgery at UMMS and plastic surgery director at the UMass Memorial Comprehensive Breast Center. "This investigational system eliminates the need for saline injections by allowing the patient to trigger the release of small amounts of compressed carbon-dioxide through the valve of a tiny chamber located inside the expander. The patient uses the remote control to gradually inflate the investigational expander in small, pre-set amounts on a daily basis at home, eliminating the need for weekly doctor visits."

Participants in this clinical trial will undergo outpatient surgery to have the investigational tissue expansion device implanted. They will then use a wireless dose controller to trigger the release of small, regulated amounts of carbon-dioxide to fill the tissue expander, according to a protocol directed by their surgeon. Once the tissue is adequately expanded, participants will return to UMass Memorial Medical Center to have the implant surgically inserted. During earlier feasibility trials, the average expansion time associated with the remote-controlled tissue expander was 15 days, a fraction of the time required using traditional expanders which can take months to achieve full expansion.

Patients in the study will be randomly selected to receive the investigational expander or a traditional saline expander. The patients who receive the investigational expander will use a wireless remote control to trigger the release of small, regulated amounts of carbon-dioxide to fill the tissue expander, according to a protocol directed by Dr. Castle. Once the tissue is adequately expanded, the patient will return to have the expander removed and a standard implant placed.

The current standard of care in tissue expansion involves implanting a saline expander under the skin and pectoral muscle following a mastectomy procedure. The patient returns to her doctor weekly for bolus saline injections, which many patients say is the most painful, difficult part of the reconstruction process. The traditional saline process can take as long as five to six months.

UMass Memorial Medical Center and other hospitals across the U.S. are participating in the study. Enrollment will continue until a total of 92 AeroForm expanders and 46 saline expanders have been implanted in patients. AeroForm will be evaluated based on its ability to successfully and safely expand the tissue to the point that the expander can be replaced with a standard breast implant. Secondary measurements will include the average number of days needed to achieve the desired expansion, total reconstruction time, pain and patient satisfaction.

The AeroForm Patient Controlled Tissue Expander was designed and manufactured by AirXpanders, a medical device company in Palo Alto, CA. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted AirXpanders an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) to conduct the study and it has been approved for enrollment by the U Mass Memorial Medical Center Review Board.

For more information on the study, please visit clinicaltrials.gov. (NCT01425268) If you or someone you know is interested in joining the study, please call 508-334-7692.

About the University of Massachusetts Medical SchoolThe University of Massachusetts Medical School, one of the fastest growing academic health centers in the country, has built a reputation as a world-class research institution, consistently producing noteworthy advances in clinical and basic research. The Medical School attracts more than $270 million in research funding annually, 80 percent of which comes from federal funding sources. The mission of the Medical School is to advance the health and well-being of the people of the commonwealth and the world through pioneering education, research, public service and health care delivery with its clinical partner, UMass Memorial Health Care. For more information, visit http://www.umassmed.edu.

See more here:
UMass Medical School Enrolling Patients in Study of Tissue Expansion for Breast Reconstruction

Harvard Medical School professor Norman L. Letvin 71, who was renowned as one of the scientific communitys leaders in the quest to develop an AIDS vaccine, was remembered after his death last month for not only his groundbreaking research but also his welcoming demeanor, musical gifts, and devotion to family.

Letvin, a pioneer in the use of non-human primates in AIDS vaccine research, died of pancreatic cancer on May 28 at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He was 62.

After graduating summa cum laude from Harvard, Letvin earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1975. Whilecompleting post-graduate training at the University of Pennsylvania, Letvin married Marion Stein 71, a fellow doctor. The two returned to Boston, where Letvin completed his senior residency at Massachusetts General Hospital.

In the early 1980s, Letvin discovered simian immunodeficiency virus, a virus similar to HIV that causes an AIDS-like illness in monkeys. That momentous finding led to a workable way for scientists to test HIV vaccines.

From 1994 until his death, he served as chief of the Division of Viral Pathogenesis at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He also edited the AIDS section of Science for 13 years.

Those who knew Letvin remembered his stunning intuition as a scientist.

I think he just had a natural talent for asking the right questions in science, his wife Marion said. He knew how to set up experiments in a way that whatever the results were, the data would be useful.

Though his laboratory at Beth Israel Deaconess was at the forefront of vital AIDS research, Letvin did not foster a tense working environment, colleagues recalled.

His door was always open. He made everyone feel that he was extremely approachable, said Wendy W. Yeh, a Medical School professor who worked in Letvins lab.

View post:
Groundbreaking AIDS Researcher Dies at 62

WARRENSVILLE HEIGHTS, Ohio -A new medical school, an extension of Ohio University's Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, will open at Cleveland Clinic's South Pointe Hospital.

The Clinic and OU, which announced the affiliation Monday, will invest a combined $49 million to address the growing shortage of primary care doctors in Ohio.

The agreement builds upon a long-standing relationship between the Clinic and the Athens-based medical school, which have partnered to train physicians for the past 35 years. South Pointe Hospital is one of the largest osteopathic teaching hospitals in the state and OU students have done third- and fourth-year clinical rotations there for decades.

The school also further enhances the reputation of northeast Ohio as one of the nation's leading medical centers.

The first class of 32 medical students is scheduled to begin August 2015, assuming approvals by the American Osteopathic Association Council on Osteopathic College Accreditation and the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association.

Osteopathic physicians and medical doctors both attend four years of medical school. They complete their training during the same residency programs and pass the same licensing exams. The difference is in the teaching style and focus during medical school.

Osteopathic schools instruct students to look at the whole patient, not just symptoms, an approach now embraced by medical schools. Osteopathic students also are educated in osteopathic manipulative treatment, which involves manual diagnosis and treatment. Not all osteopathic physicians use that in their practice.

Most osteopathic doctors specialize in family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics, OU officials said.

OU will spend $36 million, which includes renovating 60,000 square feet in a clinical and office building on the South Pointe Hospital campus and hiring faculty and staff. The Clinic's contribution of $13 million will go toward building renovations as well as medical education support. That amount includes $5 million from the private, non-profit Brentwood Foundation, which is dedicated to the advancement of osteopathic medicine. The foundation is also providing a $6 million grant for graduate medical education.

Follow this link:
Ohio University to operate medical school at Cleveland Clinic's South Pointe Hospital

By Encarnacion Pyle

The Columbus Dispatch Tuesday June 12, 2012 6:58 AM

People who want to attend medical school in the Cleveland area soon will have another choice.

Ohio University and the Cleveland Clinic announced yesterday that they are teaming up to open a $49.1 million medical-college campus in the Cleveland suburb of Warrensville Heights to fill a growing need for primary-care doctors in northeastern Ohio.

The extension campus will be developed in a building of the Cleveland Clinics South Pointe Hospital, a 179-bed, acute-care community teaching hospital that has served the citys southeastern suburbs since 1957. Ohio University and the Cleveland Clinic have worked together to train physicians for the past 35 years, and this agreement will build upon that relationship, officials said.

Together, we are striving to be the best at what we do, and we think this will help both of us do just that, OU President Roderick J. McDavis said.

The campus is expected to open with 32 students in July 2015.

Instead of having to take their first two years in Athens, students will be able to complete all four years of their medical education in northeastern Ohio, said Dr. Jack Brose, dean of the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.

It makes sense for the university to expand into northeastern Ohio because more than a quarter of its medical-school applicants come from the Cleveland area, Brose said. About 80percent of the schools graduates practicing primary care in the area also are trained there.

OU is working on a similar, $24 million medical college campus in Dublin with OhioHealth.

More:
OU to open med-school branch near Cleveland

Medical school breaks ground on $5M expansionBy Molly RosbachYakima Herald-Republic

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences is breaking ground this morning on a 22,000-square-foot expansion that's set to be completed by next summer.

The $5 million "Phase II" addition to Butler-Haney Hall has been planned since the university was first founded, and is being paid for by donors, like the rest of the school. The added space is required for the medical school to receive full accreditation and to expand its current 75-student enrollment by up to 60 students per class.

"Phase II was always planned, from the time we built Phase I. We probably would have built it much earlier, except for the economy changing," said Dr. Lloyd Butler, president of PNWU. "Now, we're in the wonderful position where the school and the community support are ready for us to complete this Phase II expansion in preparation for our request to increase our enrollment."

So far, about $1.5 million is paid for: $1 million from the Osteopathic Foundation of Central Washington and more than $500,000 from community donations. School officials expect to have the full cost of the building raised by August 2013.

The expansion is set to be finished next May followed by some separate remodeling on the interior of Butler-Haney Hall during the summer.

Loofburrow Wetch Architects worked on the building design for much of the past year, and the project went out to local contractors to bid in mid-April. In mid-May, G H Moen LLC was selected for the job.

In the addition, the school will have two new, 150-seat auditorium classrooms, which open up to form one 300-seat classroom. There will also be more office space for professors and support staff, a small prep kitchen and additional student spaces, such as an atrium, a food vending area and several bathrooms.

"This expansion will allow us to better meet our mission of producing primary care physicians for the Pacific Northwest," Butler said.

The added space will also make it easier for the university to host community functions and hold classes for continuing medical education, which all providers must take to stay up to date on new and developing medical procedures and technologies.

Link:
Medical school breaks ground on $5M expansion

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

SafeStitch Medical, Inc. (SFES), will attend the Abdominal Wall Reconstruction Conference (AWR) in Washington DC, June 14-16, 2012 to present the AMID Hernia Fixation Device (AMID HFD).

We are excited to be exhibiting at the AWR this year. The AMID Hernia Fixation Device is used for both inguinal and ventral hernia surgeries. We believe the ventral hernia repair market can benefit from the AMID HFD, said Jeffrey Spragens, President and CEO of SafeStitch Medical.

For inguinal hernia repair using the Lichtenstein method, the innovative design of the AMID HFD fixates mesh by delivering staples in a parallel plane to the femoral vessels, which may help avoid vascular injury. The AMID HFD allows for mesh manipulation, mesh fixation and skin closure.

Ventral hernia repair can be complex and time consuming. The AMID HFD is easy to use, has a stapler counter and mesh manipulators that position the mesh before staple firing. We believe the AMID HFD avoids the need for suture placement and tying and may make large ventral hernia repair simpler, said Dr. Charles Filipi, Chief Medical Officer of SafeStitch Medical.

The Abdominal Wall Reconstruction Conference is being held at the JW Marriot in Washington DC, June 14-16, 2012. Please visit booth #302 in the Capitol Ballroom to learn more about the AMID Hernia Fixation Device.

The AMID Hernia Fixation Device is sold nationwide.

About Dr. Charles Filipi

Dr. Charles Filipi is SafeStitchs Chief Medical Officer and Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska. He has published 101 peer reviewed articles and 50 book chapters. He has been the inventor on over 15 patents and five years ago became medical director of SafeStitch Medical, Inc. Dr. Filipi continues to see patients one day a week and devotes five days a week to research. His primary interests are intra-luminal surgery for the correction of gastroesophageal reflux disease and obesity, Barretts esophagus mucosal excision, stapled inguinal hernia repair and esophageal force feedback dilation.

About SafeStitch Medical, Inc.

Read this article:
SafeStitch Medical®, Inc. Will Attend the Abdominal Wall Reconstruction Conference to Present the AMID™ Hernia ...

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

MindChild Medical, Inc., today announced results of a recently sponsored national survey of hospital administrators and obstetricians (NSFM3) focused on trends in fetal monitoring. Recent fetal monitoring literature suggests that of the 4.3 million US live births recorded in 20074, 1.4 million, or over 30%5, occurred where the mother had a BMI (Body Mass Index) exceeding 30kg/m2 considered the effective limit for existing non-invasive fetal monitoring technology6.

Key findings of the NSFM Survey included:

Michael G. Ross, MD, MPH7, Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA commented, Noninvasive FHR monitoring may result in inadvertent monitoring of maternal heart rate, which can be mistaken for fetal heart rate, particularly in obese patients. The increase in maternal BMI seen nationally over the recent past is a troubling trend that has significant negative implications for the accuracy of existing non-invasive FHR monitoring technologies. The use of non-invasive surface electrodes can potentially improve in the monitoring of fetal heart rate and aid in prevention of adverse outcomes associated with mistaken maternal heart rate monitoring.

Previous Announcements

On February 22, 2012, MindChild reported formation of a Clinical Advisory Board for the MERIDIAN Line of Non-Invasive Fetal Heart Rate Monitors

On February 6, 2012, MindChild reported filing of a 510(k) Pre-Marketing Notification Application with the US Food and Drug Administration for the MERIDIAN Line of Non-Invasive Fetal Heart Rate Monitors

About the MERIDIAN Non-Invasive Fetal Heart Rate Monitor

MERIDIAN is a fetal monitor that non-invasively measures and displays Fetal Heart Rate (FHR). MERIDIAN acquires and displays the FHR tracing from abdominal surface electrodes that detect the fetal ECG signal (fECG). MERIDIAN may also be used to measure and display FHR using a Fetal Scalp Electrode (FSE). MERIDIAN is designed for women who are at term (> 36 completed weeks), in labor, with singleton pregnancies, using surface electrodes on the maternal abdomen. MERIDIAN is intended for use by healthcare professionals in a clinical setting.

About the Fetal Heart Monitoring Market

Read the original:
MindChild Medical, Inc., Announces Results of National Fetal Monitoring Market Survey

WARRENSVILLE HEIGHTS, Ohio --A new medical school, an extension of Ohio University's Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, will open at Cleveland Clinic's South Pointe Hospital.

The Clinic and OU, which announced the affiliation today, will invest a combined $49 million to address the growing shortage of primary care doctors in Ohio.

The agreement builds on a longstanding relationship between the Clinic and the Athens-based medical school, which have partnered to train physicians for 35 years. South Pointe Hospital is one of the largest osteopathic teaching hospitals in the state and OU students have done third- and fourth-year clinical rotations there for decades.

The first class of 32 medical students is scheduled to begin July 2015, assuming approvals by the American Osteopathic Association Council on Osteopathic College Accreditation and the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association.

An osteopathic physician and a medical doctor both attend four years of medical school. They complete their training during the same residency programs and pass the same licensing exams.

The difference is in the teaching style and focus during medical school. Osteopathic schools instruct students to look at the whole patient, not just symptoms, which is now being embraced by medical schools. Osteopathic students also are educated in osteopathic manipulative treatment, which is manual diagnosis and treatment. Not all osteopathic physicians use that in their practice.

OU will spend $36 million, which includes renovating a building on the South Pointe Hospital campus and hiring faculty and staff. The Clinic's contribution of $13 million includes the building renovations as well as medical education support. The Brentwood Foundation, a nonprofit, private foundation that advances osteopathic medicine, is providing a $5 million grant to South Pointe Hospital and $6 million to graduate medical education.

"Cleveland Clinic and the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine share a dedication to excellence in patient care, research and medical education," said Dr. Toby M. Cosgrove, Cleveland Clinic President and CEO in a news release. "This collaboration will help improve quality for patients, stimulate medical innovation and improve the economic health of our communities."

The affiliation shows how public and private collaborations can create jobs and improve the quality of life for Ohioans, OU President Roderick McDavis, said in a release.

"Our medical students will be offered expanded education opportunities with world-renowned experts at the Cleveland Clinic," he said. "With our partners, with this additional site, we are a university of promise for our students and for the citizens of our great state."

View original post here:
Ohio University to open medical school at Cleveland Clinic's South Pointe Hospital

Mt. Carmel native and MCHS graduate Jami Grimes-Flannery has been awarded a scholarship from Wabash General Hospital to attend medical school beginning in August.

Ms. Grimes-Flannery recently graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a degree in biology and in February was accepted into Medical School at the University of Illinois-Chicago College of Medicine.

According to WGH CEO Jay Purvis the signing of the scholarship agreement took place recently at the hospital. The agreement states that after completing medical school and residency requirements Ms. Grimes-Flannery will return to become a member of the Wabash General Hospital medical staff. At this time her plans are to pursue a career as a general surgeon.

Ms. Grimes-Flannery graduated from Wabash Valley College in 2010 with an Associate in Science degree and then continued her college studies at USI graduating this spring. She was the recipient of several awards and participated in a wide variety of activities during her college years. Jami also was an employee of Wabash General Hospital during her years at WVC and USI. Her cumulative GPA at these schools was 3.89.

Jami is the daughter of Dr. W.R. and Rebecca Hardy of Mt. Carmel. Her first year of medical school will be at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana campus beginning in mid-August. Subsequent years will be at the Rockford Campus of the University of Illinois.

With some 300 employees, a 10-year analysis of expanding Wabash General Hospital services, including the opening of a new Medical Office and Rehabilitation Building in 2011, was reviewed by Wabash County Council and termed an economic engine for Wabash County by Commission Chairman Charles Sanders.

See the article here:
Hospital awards Jami Grimes-Flannery scholarship to attend medical school

By Encarnacion Pyle

The Columbus Dispatch Monday June 11, 2012 3:40 PM

Ohio University and the Cleveland Clinic announced this afternoon that they have agreed to develop a $49.1 million medical-school campus to help fill a growing need for primary-care doctors in northeast Ohio.

Ohio University will contribute $36 million towards the extension campus that will be at the Cleveland Clinics South Pointe Hospital, a 179-bed acute-care community teaching hospital that has served the citys southeast suburbs since 1957, officials said at a news conference.

The Cleveland campus is expected to open with 32 students in July 2015.

Cleveland Clinic and the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine share a dedication to excellence in patient care, research and medical education, Dr. Toby M. Cosgrove, the Cleveland Clinics president and CEO said in a news release. This collaboration will help improve quality for patients, stimulate medical innovation and improve the economic health of our communities.

OU is working on similar, $24 million medical college campus in Dublin with OhioHealth.

The Dublin City Council unanimously voted in April to give the Athens university 70 acres surrounding the property and two buildings that OU is buying at 7001-7003 Post Rd., just off Rts. 161/33 interchange. The college is expected to open with at least 50 students in fall 2014.

The money from Ohio University for the Cleveland project will be used to renovate a building on the South Pointe campus, as well as pay for staff, faculty and operations costs for the campus. The Cleveland Clinic will provide $13.1 million for capital improvements and renovations to the building and staff and operational support.

Cleveland Clinic officials also have committed to increasing its post-graduate residency and fellowship positions for students. After graduation, young doctors are required to do three to seven years of residency training under the supervision of more-experienced physicians before they can take medical-board exams and go into practice.

Read the rest here:
OU, Cleveland Clinic announce new medical-school campus